Azerbaijan, Baku, March 3 / Trend U. Ismayilova /
Azerbaijan is developing a national program for poultry development, Chairman of the Azerbaijani Poultry Farmers Society Aydin Valiyev said.
"Developing of the program is almost completed. It will be presented to the Cabinet of Ministers soon," Valiyev said.
He said that a state program is being developed at the request of the Cabinet of Ministers, together with representatives of the Agriculture Ministry and the State Veterinary Service under the Agriculture Ministry.
The import of technological equipment, incubators and breeding chickens are exempt from VAT and customs duties to support the development of the poultry in accordance with the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers on January 25, 2011.
"However, despite numerous appeals to the Cabinet of Ministers to exempt poultry feed from VAT, it is one of the most important challenges for manufacturers. The decision has not been taken yet," he said.
The proposals for introducing these benefits are one of the points of the program, he said.
He said that one of the causes of poor development of poultry is also the import of frozen chicken meat. It hinders the development of domestic production. This issue is also reflected in the program.
Two major poultry factories - Merdeken Broyler and Hovsan Broyler - closed down in Baku in October 2008.
The Republican Society has 29 poultry enterprises. Roughly 28 of them are poultry and only one a distributor of veterinary drugs. The number of employees in the poultry industry in Azerbaijan is 15,000-20,000 people.
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